YOUTH Innovation: Cheap, green solar bottles light up Kenyan slum

When I came across this article I was so glad that youth are
actually taking it upon themselves to provide a sustainable and
renewable energy source in Kenya.

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – It’s a hot
afternoon in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, but 32-year-old Michael
Matare is comfortable in his tiny room. The house is brightly lit
by two plastic water bottles jutting out of the ceiling. Between
them hangs a 100-watt bulb, but it isn’t needed.

"Since I got these solar bottles eight months ago, I don’t switch
on the bulb," said Matare, who is unemployed and spends most of
his time indoors.

Matare said electric bulbs produce too much heat, making the
house unbearably stuffy during the day. Before, if he didn’t turn
them on, the house was dark, and he had to use a candle or
kerosene tin lamp. But now he can get by with his solar bottle
lights, which even function at night if the moon is bright
enough.

"The solar bottles are very good because they save energy during
day, and I don’t need to buy candles and kerosene to light the
house,"said Matare.

Matare, who has a wife and four children, is one of an estimated
1 million people living in Kibera on less than a dollar a day.
Previously, he paid 400 Kenyan shillings ($5) a month for an
illegal power connection. His monthly rent ranges between 2,500
and 3,000Ksh ($31-$37) - very expensive for people like him who
rely on casual work, such as digging water trenches, for around
150Ksh a day.

That makes cheap, green energy technologies, like the solar
bottle lights in Matare’s home, welcome here. The initiative -
which began in Kibera last April and is sponsored by a group of
students from Britain’s Durham University - is spreading fast in
Nairobi’s slums.

SODA BOTTLES + WATER

The concept was first developed in the Philippines, and recycles
clear 1-litre plastic soda bottles. These are filled with water,
leaving a small gap to allow the water to expand when it heats
up.

A round hole is made in the roof and the bottle inserted with its
top sticking out. When sunlight hits the bottle, the water
reflects it down into the house. Bleach is added to the water to
keep it clean.

“We did a survey early in 2013 and we found that the community
wanted (the lights) but could not afford them,” said David
Ochieng, who is spearheading the project in Kenya through a
nonprofit organisation called COVIT (Connecting Voices of
Inspiration for a Better Tomorrow).

It launched with 250 bottles, but as demand shot up, the students
raised more funds from their “Enactus”
network for an additional 2,500 bottles. The cost of making and
installing one solar bottle light is around 200Ksh ($2.50). COVIT
is also lobbying politicians and other potential backers to find
more financing.

“We have so far installed 7,200 bottles in four villages in
Kibera slum, and we are targeting between 50,000 and 100,000
bottles in Kibera,” said Ochieng.

SCHOOLS BENEFIT

The bottles have benefited not only individual households, but
also community institutions, including Anajali Primary School and
Hope Academy. “We found that this saves our energy during the
daytime. Instead of putting on the lights, we use the bottles,
and the classes are bright and our children can see well,” said
Valencia Otweche, a teacher at Anajali.

Previously the school spent as much as 10,000Ksh ($123) per month
on electricity bills, which led to power disconnections because
it couldn’t pay and the children’s parents are too poor to
contribute.

Teacher Valentine Mongoi from Hope Academy said the solar bottles
are a real blessing. “This has helped us have light in our
classrooms. During the rainy season, the classrooms got very
dark, but now the bottles give light and the children see when
they are doing their work,” she said.

Each school has around 50 solar bottles - two to three per
classroom depending on the size of the room. Children in the
slums now spend much of their time at school studying, including
weekends.

“I feel that the project should be advertised to so many people
in our country so they can make use of it,” said Otweche.

Matare agrees. “These bottles can help even in the rural areas
where people don’t have electricity, including schools, because
they give very bright light during the day,” he said.

SPREADING ACROSS KENYA

The initiative, now known as Solar Project Kenya, has been rolled
out to other counties across the country, including Mombasa,
Busia, Kisumu, Migori and Kisii.

“We are targeting vulnerable communities, and we want to install
the bottles in at least 400 homes per county,” said Ochieng. The
solar bottles can be fixed up in any house including thatched
homes, he added. One bottle is enough for a 10-by-10-foot house,
and it can last for up to 10 years.

According to expert estimates, one bottle provides light
equivalent to a 55-watt bulb, and can reduce 575g of carbon
emissions per day by cutting electricity consumption.

In Mombasa, 120 bottles were installed on the first day in
mid-February. Demand rose to 600 the following day, according to
Ochieng. In order to reach more people, the project is working
with youth groups. Three youths are selected to undergo training,
and they are then expected to train others. It takes about five
minutes to fix up one solar bottle depending on the type of roof,
Ochieng said.

In Mombasa, the team has also enlisted community health workers,
as they tend to be older people who know which households need
the lights. They identify the recipients, while the youths
install the bottles.

CHALLENGES

The biggest barrier to expanding the scheme is a lack of funds,
combined with an expectation that NGOs should be handing out
stuff for free, Ochieng said. In Mombasa, some areas also have
salty water which isn’t good to use in the bottles, and that
means spending extra money on buying fresh water.

“We cannot keep relying on donors and volunteers,” Ochieng said.
“If people could sacrifice and contribute towards the cost, I am
sure we can reach many families.”

Ochieng has also struck a deal with the Kenyan subsidiary of
French petroleum giant Total to buy solar lanterns that provide
light at night, at a wholesale price of 920Ksh each. The NGO
sells them on for 1,200Ksh, putting 50Ksh of the profit into the
solar bottle account, enabling more connections.

Another problem is conflict between tenants and landlords who
worry that their houses will be damaged by cutting a hole in the
roof to fix up the bottles. They have to be convinced that the
solar lights will lower the cost of buying candles and reduce
accidents caused by fire.

But Ochieng isn’t easily deterred. “I am sure our solar bottle
project is one of the initiatives that can help save our
continent from the effects of climate change,” he said.

“We are going green, and I am looking forward to Kenya being a
solar project ‘village’ and a place where there are no more fire
accidents due to the use of kerosene lamps and candles,” he
added.